THE SAPSUCKER 
213 
The Hairy Woodpecker 1 is so closea coun- 
terpart of the downy, in appearance and habits, 
that it is unnecessary to describe both. The 
former is larger, but its rank as an insect exter- 
minator is a little lower. Its proportion of in- 
sect food is 68 per cent, and vegetable, 31 per 
cent. Of the former, ants make up 17 per cent, 
beetles 24 per cent, and caterpillars 21 per cent. 
The only cultivated fruits found in eighty-two 
stomachs were blackberries ; but wild fruits were 
well represented. 
This bird inhabits practically the same region 
as the downy woodpecker, and belongs in the 
ranks of the farmer’s best friends. 
The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker 2 is prac- 
tically the only woodpecker which inflicts serious 
damage upon man’s property; and possibly it 
may in some localities become so numerous as to 
require thinning out. Any bird which deliber- 
ately girdles a tree and kills it is a bird entitled 
to serious consideration, and punishment ac- 
cording to the harm it does. 
This bird eats great quantities of insects, but 
as dessert it is fond of the sap of certain trees, 
among which are the maple, birch, white ash, 
apple, mountain-ash and spruce. Into the soft, 
green bark of these trees, this Sapsucker drills 
small, squarish holes, that look like gimlet holes. 
Usually they are placed in a horizontal line, 
and sometimes in mathematical groups. Oc- 
casionally several lines of these holes will quite 
girdle a tree. The bird not only drinks the sap 
that exudes, but he lies in wait to catch the 
winged insects and ants that are attracted to the 
sweet fluid, and devours great numbers of them. 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who has closely observed 
the work of the Sapsucker, states that frequently 
mountain-ash trees are girdled to death by this 
bird, but that trees of greater endurance, like 
the apple and thorn-apple, are more able to sur- 
vive its attacks. Another observer, Mr. Frank 
Bolles, declares that in well-wooded regions the 
damage it does is too insignificant to justify its 
destruction. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright states 
that in Connecticut “where these birds are plen- 
tiful, many orchard-owners cover the tree- 
trunks with fine wire netting.” 
“This species,” says Professor Beal, “is prob- 
ably the most migratory of all our woodpeckers, 
1 Dry-o-ba'tes vil-lo'sus. Length, 10.50 inches. 
2 Sphy-ra-pi'cus va'ri-us. Length, 8.25 inches. 
breeding only in the most northerly parts of the 
United States, and in some of the mountains 
farther south. In the fall it ranges southward, 
spending the winter in most of the eastern states. 
It is less generally distributed than some of the 
other woodpeckers, being quite unknown in 
some sections, and very abundant in others.” 
In its general color-scheme, this is a bird of 
many and much-mixed colors — black, white and 
yellowish indescribably varied — both above 
and below. The top of the head and the throat 
DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
are bright red; and the sides of the head have 
two broad streaks of white, and two of black. 
The name of the bird is derived from the pre- 
dominating greenish-yellow color of its breast 
and abdomen. 
The Pacific coast has the Red-Naped Sap- 
sucker, a subspecies of the above, of similar tree- 
girdling habits; the Red-Breasted Sapsucker, one 
of the commonest woodpeckers found from 
Oregon to Lower California, and two others, — 
the Northern Red-Breasted and Williamson’s. 
